EDITORIAL: Don't let 'war' ruin Christmas holiday

Bickering about greetings, traditions turns time of peace into time of anger

That's a sad thing to say isn't it? But it's true. Every year there's a slate of news reports about the so-called war on Christmas, or some new dispute about a Nativity scene, or some initiative to throw a fit when a store clerk says "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas."

Meanwhile, the vast majority of everyday citizens keep moving along, enjoying Christmas and Santa Claus, buying things and going to church and visiting family like they always have.

Why does it have to be under a cloud of Grinches on both sides who want to turn Christmas into something to argue about?

And the arguments, most of them anyway, are silly.

Those who rail when they hear "happy holidays" ought to be thrilled to hear it. "Holiday," after all, is a truncation of the phrase "holy day." So, if anything, when that clerk says "happy holidays," she is acknowledging, maybe by accident, that Christmas is not a secular event but a holy one.

For that matter, consider Halloween, which is a truncation of "All Hallow's Eve," or the night before All Saints Day, the day liturgical churches celebrate the lives of the saints. Yes, Halloween has plenty of pagan or pseudo-religious elements, but its name is rooted in a religious tradition.

But back to Christmas, or shall we say Xmas.

That phrase, "Xmas," seems to get under some people's skin in a big way. But that's mainly because they don't know where it comes from. "Xmas" doesn't mean "Blankmas." The Greek letter X is "chi" and it has been used as a symbol for Christ for centuries.

Take a look around some of the older, more traditional churches and you'll see A, O, X and P all over the place - Greek letters standing for alpha and omega (God as the beginning and the end) and for Christ, often paired with a P, for rho, in Greek the second letter of Christ's name.

Most of our religious holiday celebrations (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving) are now a broad mix of traditions, some from the church, some from old pagan sources, some from our families. Sorting out and separating everything now to make any of these holidays pure would be to untie the Gordian knot.

Christmas is a special time. It's clearly rooted in Christianity, and its meaning has been added to and amplified over the years by Burl Ives songs, the Christmas Truce of 1914, "It's a Wonderful Life," Salvation Army red kettles, and countless other often-secular sources.

That Christ's birth is celebrated today by most Western cultures as a time of hope, giving and peace is an excellent tribute, and more than the early church could have imagined.

Let's not allow petty bickering to turn it into anything less.

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EDITORIAL: Don't let 'war' ruin Christmas holiday

Christmas brings out the worst in some people.

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